Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Immunologix Teams with GenScript to Produce Human Antibody Therapeutics Ready for Clinical Trials
CHARLESTON, S.C. & PISCATAWAY, N.J.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Immunologix, Inc, a Charleston, SC biotechnology company and a leader in fully human therapeutic antibodies for a variety of diseases and GenScript, a contract research organization (CRO) based in Piscataway, NJ and the industry leader in bio-reagent services, assay development & screening, lead optimization, and antibody drug development, announced today that the companies have formed a strategic partnership to offer a complete platform for producing human antibody therapeutics. Immunologix holds the exclusive worldwide license rights to a proprietary technique used to produce fully human antibodies. GenScript offers extensive antibody drug services that include antigen production, hybridoma development and stabilization, antibody sequencing, chimeric antibody, antibody humanization, affinity maturation, epitope mapping, antibody and protein characterization, in vitro assay and screening, in vivo efficacy and safety study, antibody transient expression, stable cell line, and scale up production. Jointly, the companies provide an integrated platform for discovery and development of full human therapeutic antibody candidates ready for clinical trials.
Elsevier Announces New Brain Research Editor-In-Chief
Elsevier, a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, is pleased to announce that Dr. Irwin B.Levitan has accepted the position of Editor-in-Chief of the journal Brain Research. He succeeds Dr. Floyd E. Bloom, who has served with distinction as an Editor of the journal since its inception in 1967 and, latterly since 2000, as its Editor-in-Chief. In his new role, Dr. Levitan will lead this popular multidisciplinary journal devoted to fundamental research in the brain sciences.
Dr. Levitan is Founding Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and has played an active part in the field of neuroscience for 35 years. He is also currently Director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Jefferson and has received numerous awards and honors, including two successive NIH Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Awards and two awards from the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has played prominent leadership roles in the Society for Neuroscience. Earlier this year, he was appointed President of the Association of Medical School Neuroscience Department Chairs.
Dr. Levitan is Founding Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and has played an active part in the field of neuroscience for 35 years. He is also currently Director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Jefferson and has received numerous awards and honors, including two successive NIH Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Awards and two awards from the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has played prominent leadership roles in the Society for Neuroscience. Earlier this year, he was appointed President of the Association of Medical School Neuroscience Department Chairs.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Postdoctoral Fellow Positions in Experimental Systems Biology, Immunology and Genomics : Bethesda, Maryland
Postdoctoral Fellow Positions in Experimental Systems Biology, Immunology and Genomics
Program in Systems Immunology and Infectious Disease Modeling
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD
We are seeking experimental fellows in a new research group focusing on systems biology and genomics, with particular emphasis on mammalian immune cells and systems and their interaction with the environment (e.g., commensal microbes). The group is part of a new program in the Division of Intramural Research of NIAID/NIH focusing on systems immunology. Other groups in the program focus on proteomics, cell and molecular biology, immunology, and computational simulations of cellular systems, thus offering rich opportunities for close collaborations on integrative approaches to biomedicine.
Program in Systems Immunology and Infectious Disease Modeling
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD
We are seeking experimental fellows in a new research group focusing on systems biology and genomics, with particular emphasis on mammalian immune cells and systems and their interaction with the environment (e.g., commensal microbes). The group is part of a new program in the Division of Intramural Research of NIAID/NIH focusing on systems immunology. Other groups in the program focus on proteomics, cell and molecular biology, immunology, and computational simulations of cellular systems, thus offering rich opportunities for close collaborations on integrative approaches to biomedicine.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
A large suite of genes in the petunia plant acts to prevent it from breeding with itself or with its close relatives
A research team led by Teh-hui Kao, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State University, in collaboration with a team lead by Professor Seiji Takayama at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan, has discovered a large suite of genes in the petunia plant that acts to prevent it from breeding with itself or with its close relatives, and to promote breeding with unrelated individuals. In much the same way that human inbreeding sometimes results in genetic disease and inferior health, some inbred plants also experience decreased fitness, and therefore, have developed mechanisms to ensure that their offspring benefit from hybrid vigor -- the mix that results when genetically distinct members of the same species breed. The team's discovery of the multiple inbreeding-prevention genes will be published on 5 November 2010 in the journal Science. The identification of these genes comes on the heels of Kao's earlier identification of two additional inbreeding-prevention genes in the same plant.
Modern medicine has forgotten the essence of illness care
Health is a state where each human body cell is in sync with other cells. Illness is when this communication breaks down.
“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicines.”– Sir William Osler
In the 21st century, I could only echo that great sentiment as a truism, despite the tall talk of the “so-called” evidence-based medicine. Napoleon Bonaparte went one step further, but one could argue that he was not a physician. Napoleon was at the receiving end of such a medical practice in Persia where he died. “Medicine is a collection of uncertain prescriptions the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind.” Napoleon, though, was more accurate scientifically today. The latest science says that uncertainty is the only certainty in the world. This is truer of medical science, if there is one. A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience. If that were so, this one from Voltaire takes the cake: “The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”
“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicines.”– Sir William Osler
In the 21st century, I could only echo that great sentiment as a truism, despite the tall talk of the “so-called” evidence-based medicine. Napoleon Bonaparte went one step further, but one could argue that he was not a physician. Napoleon was at the receiving end of such a medical practice in Persia where he died. “Medicine is a collection of uncertain prescriptions the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind.” Napoleon, though, was more accurate scientifically today. The latest science says that uncertainty is the only certainty in the world. This is truer of medical science, if there is one. A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience. If that were so, this one from Voltaire takes the cake: “The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”
Scientist says rewards from genetic research are huge
Rewards from science are not always immediate, but when they come they make up for the months of work and effort, John McEwan says.
That is the experience of the long-serving AgResearch Invermay scientist who has been at the forefront of some of the most significant genetic-based productivity gains in farm livestock in recent decades.
That research has varied from helping map the cattle genome and a draft version of the sheep genome to identifying various genetic traits in sheep, including for muscling and parasite resistance.
That is the experience of the long-serving AgResearch Invermay scientist who has been at the forefront of some of the most significant genetic-based productivity gains in farm livestock in recent decades.
That research has varied from helping map the cattle genome and a draft version of the sheep genome to identifying various genetic traits in sheep, including for muscling and parasite resistance.
Photosynthesis is arguably the most impressive feat of nature
Photosynthesis is arguably the most impressive feat of nature, where plants harvest light energy and convert it into the building blocks of life at fantastically high efficiency. Indeed modern civilization became possible only with the cultivation of plants for food, shelter and clothing.
While scientists have been able to discover details of the fascinating process by which plants store solar energy as chemical energy, how developing plants build and regulate their solar reactors is still poorly understood. How many genes are involved, and which are the most important? How are different cell types endowed with specific biochemical capacities? What signals fine-tune how much sugar is produced, and which bioproducts are generated? The answers to these questions have applications in agriculture, bioenergy and climate change.
While scientists have been able to discover details of the fascinating process by which plants store solar energy as chemical energy, how developing plants build and regulate their solar reactors is still poorly understood. How many genes are involved, and which are the most important? How are different cell types endowed with specific biochemical capacities? What signals fine-tune how much sugar is produced, and which bioproducts are generated? The answers to these questions have applications in agriculture, bioenergy and climate change.
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